Richard Spencer: Egypt is on a knife edge

The Telegraph's Middle East correspondent Richard Spencer reports from Cairo
on President Morsi's attempts to cling to power as the military's 48-hour
deadline approaches.

8:00PM BST 02 Jul 2013

Egypt's armed forces will suspend the constitution and dissolve parliament if talks between the government and opposition fail to reach a settlement by Wednesday, the country's military sources have warned.

The Telegraph's Middle East correspondent Richard Spencer said: "No one knows what is going to happen tomorrow ... the President is in last minute talks, really to save his Presidency.

"The anti-Morsi protest that have been seen over the last few days, particularly on Sunday are like nothing we've ever seen before.

"Even at the height of the protests against Mr Mubarak there weren't these numbers out."

The drastic measures, which would effectively push the country back towards military rule, are contained in a draft political roadmap that the army will unroll if the current political deadlock is not resolved.